POEA warns against paying for medical exams

The case of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have been highlighted in the recent weeks after murdered OFW Joanna Demafelis was found dead in a freezer in Kuwait under the employment of couple Nader Essam Assaf and Mona Assaf.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) now warns of a Middle Eastern registration system online that requires job applicants to pay $10, or around P500, for a so-called pre-employment medical examination operated by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministry of Health.

Furthermore, the Department of Health (DOH) denies having approved the a pre-employment medical examination scheme and even bans the Medical Facilities for Overseas Workers and Seafarers (MFOWS) from resorting to the said scheme.

DOLE, photo from untvradio.com

Both agencies warned eager job-seeking Filipinos looking for employment in the Middle East from being “duped” by the paid medical examination, saying that it “may be construed as another form of decking and monopoly of health examination services for Filipino migrant workers.”